Apple Nears Switch To In-House Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Chip for iPhone, Smart Home (bloomberg.com) 16
Apple's ambitious plan to create in-house components for its devices will include switching to a homegrown chip for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections starting next year, a move that will replace some parts currently provided by Broadcom. From a report: The chip, code-named Proxima, has been in development for several years and is now slated to go into the first products in 2025, according to people familiar with the matter. Like Apple's other in-house chips, Proxima will be produced by partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
The transition is separate from Apple's highly anticipated shift from Qualcomm cellular modems -- details of which Bloomberg News reported last week -- but the two parts will eventually work together. Apple's goal is to develop an end-to-end wireless approach that is tightly integrated with its other components and more energy-efficient, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the initiative hasn't been announced. Representatives for Cupertino, California-based Apple and Palo Alto, California-based Broadcom declined to comment.
The transition is separate from Apple's highly anticipated shift from Qualcomm cellular modems -- details of which Bloomberg News reported last week -- but the two parts will eventually work together. Apple's goal is to develop an end-to-end wireless approach that is tightly integrated with its other components and more energy-efficient, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the initiative hasn't been announced. Representatives for Cupertino, California-based Apple and Palo Alto, California-based Broadcom declined to comment.
Is this relevant? (Score:2)
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Re:Is this relevant? (Score:4, Interesting)
It's significant because Qualcomm controls the market for the most part. Apple creating their own chip means several things. It means they're no longer reliant on licensing Qualcomm technology and chips. There's a cost savings there. It also means they can integrate it with their other chipsets, which often offer additional benefits such as higher transfer speeds, lower memory/battery usage, and more.
We've also see speed differences in chip makers. Some years back, Apple dual-sourced the modems for the iPhone 7 from Qualcomm and Intel. The Qualcomm modems showed significant speed advantages, outperforming the Intel modem 30-75%. So who makes your phones modem can make a very noticeable difference.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/a... [forbes.com]
Re:Is this relevant? (Score:5, Interesting)
It may create some long term benefits in that there's more engineering talent in the area and some of those people may eventually move on to start their own company, in much the same way that some of Apple's chip designers formed Nuvia, which was ultimately acquired by Qualcomm.
Apple has been trying this for a while. They bought the team and technology for making cellular modems that Intel had started years prior to try to get people to put x86 Atom CPUs into phones. I do recall that Apple scrapped their plans to use that technology because it wasn't anywhere near as good as what Qualcomm had. That was several years ago though, so perhaps they've fixed the issues or have a new product that they've spent time working on. Qualcomm is no slouch though, so even having something that's 90% as good will be an achievement for the team. I don't know if that's good enough for Apple though. If they're not at least as good, I already know what every one of their competitors is going to advertise their phones on.
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Apple is already absolutely stomping Qualcomm in the mobile processor game, to the point where comparison isn't even warranted anymore because Apple is so far ahead. As we've generally seen, Apple won't move to their own tech if they don't have something better than what they can source elsewhere. They're continuing to push to own their supply chain, as it makes things more profitable and safer for them, but they don't just jump for that reason. It's why we haven't seen them go to their own display panels a
Re: Is this relevant? (Score:2)
Apple has licensed their tech before. They charged too much for firewire until late in its life and thus killed it, but they still did it. Licensing of wireless solutions already comes with substantial costs so they could conceivably actually license theirs successfully.
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Yeah, but this isn't about the cellular modems, it's about the WiFi/Bluetooth modules. Maybe 20 years ago it mattered what module was in your device but these days does it really matter?
Qualcomm bought Athereos which was a good chipset back in the day, and Broadcom made their own so-so chipset. But I'd be hard pressed to be able to say "Oh, this has an Intel chipset and it sucks" sort of deal.
The only time I can recall having a problem was when the Qualcomm wifi chipset got a driver update that somehow caus
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There are still some remarkably shitty chipsets out there that get installed in even high-cost devices where the manufacturer is just being a cheap bastard. See: the $1000 proprietary thermostat on my wall that can't keep connection to a multi-AP wifi network for longer than a week, until I created a specific network for it and only have that network exist on a single AP. Thanks, Trane.
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Yes, of course it does.
It's like saying it doesn't matter what kind of car you buy, they all operate under the same regulatory system, therefore, they must all operate equally.
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The Qualcomm modems showed significant speed advantages, outperforming the Intel modem 30-75%
This is true.
What is also true, is that Intel sold that chip unit to Apple, so the chips they're about to start using are the descendants of those shitty chips. Hopefully they made them a lot better.
Re:Is this relevant? (Score:5, Insightful)
Every once in a while Slashdot actually publishes "News for Nerds." If you think stuff like this is not relevant, you're not one; just move on to the next story about US politics.
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Ha, so true. "Why is a site that bills itself as a site for nerds posting stuff about advances in technology?"
Lemme guess (Score:4, Insightful)
Futurama did it (Score:1)
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